Machine for contracting ferrules



June 3, 1930. J. P. EASTMAN 1,751,521

MACHINE FOR CONTRACTING FERRULES I Filed Nov. 24, 1924 gk/ a PatentedJune 3, 1930 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE J 08123 P. OI IANITOWOC,WISGONSIN, ASSIGNOB TO no. (XL,

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This invention relates to machines for contractin ferrules and similarmembers, and is partic arly directed to the construction of face piecesor dies for such machines.

5 In general this invention is an 1mprovement over that disclosed inUnited States Patent No. 758,195 issued April 26, 1904 to Schweinert etal. a

In contracting ferrules such for instance as those employed in holding aflexible end upon a pipe it has been the practise to provide circularlyrecessed face pieces or dies, as disclosed in the above noted patent.These dies vwhen'fully contracted were designed to produce a circularcontracted ferrule, butit was found in actual practise impossible tocontract the ferrule to a perfect cylindrical contour. The metal gave atitsweakest points and would not flow as was intended and consequentlyoval and other sha es were produced instead of cylindrical. n' additionto this numerous irregularities were formed in the ferrule and a consuent insecure grippin action thereof was t e result.

T invention is designed to overcome the above noted defects and objectsof such invention are to provide a ferrule contracting ma chine which isso constructed that the'ferrule is uniformly contracted, and corruations are :0 provided to take up the excess metafin the ferrule and tothus secure the desired contraction in addition to the shaping of theferrule to a cylindrical contour, thus insuring uniform binding of theferrule upon the flexible end of the pipe. 7

Further objects are to provide dies which may be employed to replace thedies now in use in ferrule contracting machinesand to the depressions inthe ferrule and will thus uniformly and evenly contract such ferrule. Anembodiment of the invention is shown in the accompanying drawing, inwhich Figure 1 is a front view of the machine partly in section showingmerely the essential "portions thereof and showing the dies in openposition.

Figure 2 is a view corresponding to Figme 1 showing the dies contracted,and showprovide the dies with means which will form.

ing the ferrule when it has been contracted by the dies. I

Figure 3 is a view of a die removed from the}: machine. f

, igure 4'is a ragmentary view showin the end of a gas pipe with theflexibleen 5 pliltlace held in position by the contracted ferr e.

Inthe draw' theo rat' rin similar to that discloifi in the zbot 'li notel patent has been omitted for the sake ofclearness, as such operatingmeans is identical with that disclosed in such atent. The machine isprovided with gui g members 1 which are circular exteriorl and whichprovide flat faces 2 between w oh the several. dies 3 slide. These diesare carried in crosshead members 4 which removabl receive such dies, andwhich are operate by means of toggle links 1 such as indicated at 5inFigures 1 and 2-. 7 Such' toggle links when moved to 'tions shown inFigure 2, force the dies inwardly into their most contracted position.

The dies or face pieces3 are preferably provided with a dovetailed rtion6 which slidably fits into a eorrespon 'ng part .of the crosshead, asshown in Figures 1 and 2.

The dies, it will be noted, are provided with cylindrical surfaces 7which are contoured to the exact size'desired for the contractedferrule. Each die is rovided, preferably ad- 'acent one end, wit a lipor ridge 8. This p or projection is preferably rounded so as to avoidcutting the metal ferrule 9..

In using the device, the end piece 10, which is usually of 'rubber orsimilar material, is slipped-over the pipe 11, and the ferrule 9 isslipped over the rear portion of the end piece 10. Thereafter, theassembled parts neg:- sitioned in the machine with the ferrule tween theexpanded dies. The machine is operated to cause the dies to moveinwardly into engagement with the ferrule, and the tongues 8 depressregularly spaced portions of the ferrule and take up the metal of theferrule while it is being contracted, the cylindrical surfaces 7 insur'a uniform cylindrical shape for the contracted ferrule.

The contracted ferrule appears, as. shown in Figure 4, and it will benoted that such 100 ferrule is provided with regularly spaced depressedportions 12 which not only take up the excess metal of the ferrule, butalso project into the rubber end piece 10, as shown in Figure 2, thussecurely gripping the end piece and also insuring a uniform contractionof the ferrule with consequent binding of the end piece upon the pipe.

It will thus be seen that means have been provided for uniformlycontracting a ferrule upon the end member of a pipe and that suchferrule will be free from irregularities and uneven binding of the endpiece upon the pipe will be wholly avoided.

It will further be seen that an improved form of die has been providedfor ferrule contracting machines which may be readily substltuted forthe dies now in use, and which will function in a new and effectivecapacity to prevent the formation of irregular shaped ferrules.

Although the invention has been described in considerable detail, it isto be understood that the invention may be variously embodied and is,therefore, to be limited only as claimed.

1 claim:

1. A die for a ferrule contracting machine comprising a body portionprovided with a cylindrical shaping surface adapted to engage theferrule, said surface having a smaller radius of curvature than theinitial radius of curvature of'the ferrule and having a projecting ribadapted to extend into the ferrule and take up excess material in saidferrule when such ferrule is contracted.

2. In a ferrule contracting machine, the combination of a plurality ofradially arranged crossheads, guides therefor, means for moving saidcrossheads inwardly towards a central point, and a plurality of diescarried by said crossheads and adapted to slide between said guides,each of said dies having a cylindrical inner face provided with a ribhaving a rounded end, said ribs being adapted to form inwardly directedcorrugations in said ferrule.

3. In a ferrule contracting machine, the

a combination of a plurality of radially arranged crossheads, guides forsaid crossheads, means for moving said crossheads 1nwardly towards acentral point, a plurality of dies carried by said crossheads andadapted to slide between said guides, each of said dies having acylindrical surface which together define the surface of a cylinder whensaid dies are in their contracted position, and each of said dies havinga rounded rib projecting from one corner thereof, said ribs being spacedin a regular manner when said I dies are in their contracted positionwhereby the ferrule is formed with a cylindrical portion and with aplurality of longitudinally extending depressions.

4. A ferrule contracting machine comprising a plurality of dies, eachdie having a body portion provided with a cylindrical face forcontacting with and shaping the ferrule and having means for forminginwardly depressed portions in the ferrule, said dies being adapted toleave the ferrule in the form of a generally cylindrical shell directedinwardly only from the generally cylindrical body of the ferrule and ofsmaller diameter than the initial diameter of the ferrule, and means forsimultaneously forcing said dies inwardly.

5. In a ferrule contracting machine the combination of a plurality ofradially mov- 'able dies adapted to form a generally cylindricalferrule, means for moving said dies inwardly, and means for preventingthe surplus metal of the ferrule from forming outwardly projectingcrimps between the dies during the inward travel of the dies, said meanscomprising a rib adjacent each of the several interspaces between thedies, whereby the excess metal is started inwardly by said ribs and onlyinwardly depressed channels are formed in the contracted ferrule.

6. In a ferrule contractin machine, the combination of a plurality ofradially movable dies adapted to form a generally cylindrical ferrule,means for moving said dies inwardly, said dies each having a single ribthereon located adjacent the interspaces between the dies with the ribsof successive dies non-contiguous.

7. A ferrule contracting machine comprising a set of ferrule contractingdies adapted to contract a ferrule into a generally cylindrical formaround an article of yielding material, such dies having means forproducing inwardly depressed longitudinally extending projecting ribs inthe ferrules, whereby such ribs intrude into the yielding material, saiddies having concave surfaces for shaping the outer surface of theferrule and means for simultaneously moving said dies inwardly.

8. A ferrule contracting machine comprising radially moving dies, suchdies comprising elements adapted to form inwardly projectinglongitudinal .ribs in the ferrule, and elements adapted to form theferrule into a generally cylindrical shape, such first-named elementsbeing arranged to meet the ferrule earlier than such second-namedelements, during the inward journey of the dies.

9. A ferrule contracting machine comprising a set of ferrule contractingdies having concave surfaces adapted to contract a ferrule into agenerally cylindrical form around an article of yielding material, saiddies having means for producing inwardly depressed longitudinallyextending projecting ribs having abrupt shoulders spaced inwardly fromthe outer edge of the ferrule, whereby said ribs intrude into theyielding material and the shoulders form abrupt stops to preventwithdrawal of the yielding material, and

means for simultaneously moving said-dies inwardly. 1 V t V r Intestimony that I claim the foregoing I have hereunto set my hand atManitowoc 5 in the county of Manitowoc and State of Wisconsin.

JOSEPH EASTMAN.

